The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has opened its second carbon storage licensing round, offering 14 locations offshore Scotland and England for exploration and appraisal, with the stores offering up to 2 gigatons of additional CO2 storage capacity.

The round, opened today, December 9, offers areas that fall into two broad categories, including depleted hydrocarbon fields selected by the NSTA, and saline aquifer sites identified following a Call for Nominations, which earlier this year enabled industry partners to indicate sites of interest that offered a greater chance of successful project delivery.